Fast flight strings on older Bear Bows

[Shawn Leonard]

It is up to you!! Pad the loops and you may be OK, but that is the key you may be OK. People say why do it, well 6fps. does make a difference and to me D-97 and other FF material is quieter than B-50. I know it is on all my modern bows. I myself would do it, but the decision is yours. By the way I have a 68 Grizzly that has been shot thousands of times with a D-97 10 strand with padded loops and a bit of velcro in the string grooves and it is fine!! Shawn

[30coupe]

I made up an 8 strand D97 for my Mahaska, which is not made for fast flight. It made the bow a joy to shoot. The hand shock with B50 gave my elbows fits. With the skinny D97, there is absolutely ZERO hand shock. I wish I'd gone with a 6 strand because my serving is a bit tight with 8. I'll probably do that eventually. I padded the loops to 16 strands, then added yard (see the before and after pics).

My thought is there is no way the tips are going to wear any worse with my setup than with B50. I also can't see how the lack of stretch (which O.L. disputes by the way) can hurt the bow. Since there is less hand shock, the energy is obviously going to the arrow instead of the bow, so I see no need to worry about the limbs.

Here is the bare B50 string:

 

And here is the same bow with the yarn wrapped D97:

 

I know this is not a Bear, but the principle should be the same. I may whip up a six strand for my old Black Bear, yarn the loops and see what difference it makes. The skinny D97 strings are supposed to be quieter. My bows are pretty quiet to start with, so I'm not sure about that. The reduced hand shock makes it well worth the investment for me.

[George D. Stout]

I've never seen one recurve bow that was quieter with fastflight material....not one.  Longbows are another story.  I still don't know why one would risk the chance of breaking a vintage bow. If you don't care about it, sell it to someone who does.

[Flatshooter]

AGAIN, DON'T DO IT!!!!

[d. ward]

Fastflight strings saw the tips off bows made before 1960 because the tip overlays are made of paper.Endless loop string and FF's will saw right thru the paper tip overlays trust me on this one.For your 1970's magnum which those are wood tip overlays they are made of action wood and FF will most likely never saw thru them.That bow was built before FF string were used.The problem occurs at the fade outs.Bow laminating glues have made several formula changes since the 1970's.bowdoc

[d. ward]

paper tip overlays.I replace them with fiberglass.I still only use B-50 string even after the new tip overlays are added.bowdoc

[d. ward]

pic two.Its up to you weather you like the FF or not.I like the bow to shoot the way it was designed.........bowdoc